The present invention relates to a tent allowing for easy assembly or disassembly and, more particularly, to a self-contained tent suitable for use in a campground (i.e., a camping site accessible to automobiles).
A conventional camping tent comprises a frame consisting of a tubular skeleton structure and a flexible sheet which covers the frame. The frame is generally assembled by fitting together a plurality of pipes or poles. When such a conventional tent is used, the frame is assembled and the sheet cover is opened out to cover the frame. Guy-ropes of the sheet cover are fixed on the ground through toggles and tent-pegs to complete the tent assembly. On the other hand, when the tent is disassembled, the sheet cover is removed from the frame and the frame is broken up into the constituent pipes. However, according to this conventional tent, the assembly and disassembly of the frame is time-consuming. It is not easy to pitch or to take down the tent, thus resulting in inconvenience. In addition to this disadvantage, it is sometimes impossible to pitch the tent due to ground conditions. When the ground is too soft or hard, the guy-ropes cannot be firmly supported. As a result, the tent cannot be maintained in a good shape.
In order to solve the drawbacks of the conventional tent described above, a self-contained tent assembly is described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,133. The assembly efficiency of this self-contained tent is better than that of the assembly type conventional tent. The conventional self-contained tent is firmly attached to the roof of an automobile. After it has been raised on the roof, the occupant may climb a ladder and enter the tent. It is hard to detach the tent from the roof of the automobile. Even if the tent is detached, to set it up on the ground is difficult and time-consuming since it is heavy.